The retention of physicians to primary health care in Brazil: motivation and limitations from a qualitative perspective

BACKGROUND: This study analyzed the reasons why physicians migrated from the Program to Value Primary Healthcare Professionals (PROVAB) to the Mais Médicos (More doctors) Program in 2015, opting to become physicians of the Primary Health Care. METHODS: The focal group techniques were used consisting of six doctors that made the option to remain in the PHC, being the results analyzed through content monitoring as well as the respective categories, which were identified as theme analysis. RESULTS: It was evidenced that the physician’s retention on primary care has a strong relationship with the acquisition of knowledge that is consistent with the context and the health needs of the population. Thus, appropriate competencies for the management of the different biopsychosocial characteristics of the territories, in consonance with abilities that use the communication centered on the patient as well as on the interdisciplinarity, producing health projects that include the uniqueness of the people, essential factor for the daily confrontation of the work of these physicians, strengthened by the training component of the program. Personal factors related to the empathetic profile with this level of care and the possibility of continuous improvement, besides the factors related to the adequate infrastructure and organizational climate with guaranteed salary in keeping with the complexity of Primary Care, positively influenced the permanence of these professionals and were drivers of changes in healthcare and management in the health units they were related to. The bond created with the team and patients was a great satisfaction factor for the professional, being identified by them as a possibility to make a difference in the treatment process of patients, strengthening the promotion of a healthier life through health education. CONCLUSIONS: PROVAB had an unparalleled contribution to the qualification of care in Primary Health Care, contributing to the birth of a new logic of medical training in Brazil. Its effective cooperation with the consolidation of the Mais Médicos Program, still in progress, is a great movement of resistance to the disarticulation and deconstruction of Unified Health System (SUS) which is in charge of public health in Brazil.